Currently, a large number of
enterprises use SAP R/3 as a platform for integration of business processes. The
continuous usage of SAP results in huge amounts of enterprise data, which is
stored in SAP R/3. With passage of time, the new and updated data is entered
into the system while the old data still resides in the SAP enterprise system.
Since some of the old data is
critical, it cannot be deleted. The difficulty is keeping the data you want, and
deleting the data you do not want. Hence, a SAP database keeps on expanding
rapidly and enterprise systems, which have limited data retention abilities for
a few years, suffer from problems such as data overflow, longer transaction
processing times, and performance degradation.
The solution of this problem has
led to the concept of Data Archiving in SAP. Data Archiving removes out-of-date
data from the SAP database that the R/3 system does not need online, but can be
retrieved on a later date, if required. This data is known as archived data and
is stored at an offline location. Data Archiving not only consistently removes
data from the database but also ensures data availability for future business
requirements.
One rule of thumb is that in a
typical SAP enterprise system, the ratio of data required to be online and
instantly accessible to old data, which could be archived, and stored offline is
1:6. For example, if an enterprise has 2100 GB of SAP database, the online data,
which is frequently used by SAP users will be 300 MB and the rest (1800 MB) will
be scarcely used and hence can be archived.
Data Archiving � Features
It provides a protection layer to the SAP database and
resolves underperformance problems caused by huge volumes of data. It is
important that SAP users should keep only minimal data to efficiently work
with database and servers. Data archiving ensures that the SAP database
contains only relevant and up-to-date data that meet your requirements.
Data archiving uses hardware components such as hard
disks and memory. For efficient data archiving, minimum number of disks and
disk space should be used.
It also reduces the system maintenance costs associated
with the SAP database. In the SAP database there are various procedures such
as, data backup, data recovery, and data upgrade.
SAP data archiving complies with statutory data retention
rules that are common and well-proven techniques.
